U.S. touts freshly signed de-escalation pact between Russia and Ukraine

GENEVA — Secretary of State John Kerry says diplomats from Russia, the United States, the European Union and Ukraine have agreed on a series of steps aimed at de-escalating violence in strife-ridden Ukraine.

He said all of this “represents a good day’s work.” But Kerry also says “words on paper” will have little meaning if they are not followed by actions on all sides to calm the situation in the former Soviet republic.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada will contribute six CF-18 jet fighters to a NATO air-policing mission as a response to the crisis in the Ukraine.

The jets and ground support staff will be based in Poland.

In addition, the military is sending up to 20 staff officers to bolster the Canadian presence at NATO headquarters in Brussels as the alliance organizes a further response.

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Kerry tells a news conference “we fully expect the Russians” to demonstrate they are serious about lowering tensions. He says “no more incidents of this kind should occur.” And the secretary adds that he’s told his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, that if no improvement is seen, “We will have no choice but to impose” increasing sanctions against Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed hope for a political and diplomatic solution of the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, saying he hopes that he won’t have to send Russian troops into eastern Ukraine, which has been engulfed by violent protests against the new authorities in Kyiv.

Government buildings in several towns in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions have been attacked and seized in what Washington said were moves reminiscent of the events that preceded Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.

Putin poured scorn at the West, accusing it of trying to weaken and isolate Russia and made it starkly clear that he doesn’t fear further Western sanctions.

The turmoil in Ukraine dominated the European landscape Thursday, as three protesters were killed in a clash in southern Ukraine and high-level talks were held in Geneva.

Still, the constellation of events left the nation of 46 million no closer to solving its essential challenge: the confrontation pitting Ukraine’s new government in Kyiv against a pro-Russian insurgency in its eastern regions that is being tacitly supported by Moscow.

Three pro-Russian protesters were killed and 13 injured during an attempted raid overnight on a Ukrainian National Guard base in the Black Sea port of Mariupol, Ukraine’s authorities said Wednesday.

The Interior Ministry said a mob of around 300 people armed with stun grenades and firebombs were involved in the bloodiest episode to date in the month-long insurgency.

Masked and battle-ready militia bearing sophisticated firearms have been deeply involved in seizing government offices in eastern Ukraine, igniting suspicions that much of the unrest is being stirred with Russia’s backing.

But in a four-hour televised question-and-answer session, Putin on Thursday dismissed as “nonsense” claims that Russian special forces were fomenting the unrest in eastern Ukraine.

“It’s all nonsense, there are no Russian units, special forces or instructors in the east of Ukraine,” Putin said.

At the same time, he recognized for the first time that soldiers in unmarked uniforms – dubbed “little green men” – who swept Ukraine’s Black Sea region of Crimea laying the ground for its annexation by Moscow last month were Russian troops.

Putin, who previously said the troops were part of local self-defence forces, said the Russian soldiers’ presence was necessary to protect the local population from armed radicals and to ensure the holding of a referendum, in which an overwhelming majority of its residents voted for seceding from Ukraine and joining Russia.

“They acted politely, but resolutely and professionally,” he said. “There was no other way to hold the referendum in an open, honest and honourable way and allow the people to express their opinion.”

He said part of the motives behind the annexation of Crimea was the need to counter what he said was NATO’s intention to make Ukraine a member and sharply limit Russia’s presence in the Black Sea region.

Putin insisted that protests in the east of Ukraine only involve locals. He denounced the Ukrainian authorities’ decision to use the military to uproot the protests in the east as a “grave crime,” adding that he told his Western counterparts urging him to help disarm protesters in the east that the Ukrainian government should first pull the army back.